Although the Xbox One is second out of the gate this year, the system won't be far behind the PlayStation 4. After a few stumbles and a minor setback with Twitch broadcasting, Microsoft's system is on its way to winning gamers back.

If it ends up being a hit, the company can give partial credit to its strong launch lineup. With "Dead Rising 3," "Forza Motorsports 5" and "Ryse: Son of Rome," Microsoft serves up three good games to establish a foothold with fans this holiday season. Each title brings new twists to gameplay. They push the envelope on innovation as hard as they do on the gorgeous visuals.

The most stunning of the bunch is "Ryse: Son of Rome," a hack-and-slasher along the lines of "God of War." Unlike its Greek counterpart that had some mind-bending puzzles, "Ryse" is strictly focused on giving players an intense action experience as they take on the role of Marius Titus, a Roman general.

The combat system is deceptively simple but quite complex, as players need to read moves and have perfect timing in their sword slashes and parries. The violence is bloody and brutal, but that adds to the project's allure. It's basically the video game equivalent of "Gladiator" or "Braveheart."

'Forza 5'

Turn 10 Studios is one of the most reliable developers in Microsoft's portfolio, and each entry in its "Forza" series is better than the last. The team always finds a way to share its infectious passion for cars with all kinds of players.

With "Forza 5," the developers create a new artificial intelligence program called Drivatar that analyzes how players race and turns that data into a virtual AI competitor. That Drivatar will appear in friends' races and earns credits when players are away. The better they race, the better the Drivatar becomes.

It brings an unpredictable, multiplayer-style experience to an already great single-player campaign. The icing on the cake is the beautiful graphics that further blur the lines between games and reality.

'Dead Rising 3'

"Dead Rising 3" may not wow the casual observer, but what it lacks in eye candy, it makes up for in inventive gameplay and creativity. In this sequel, Capcom Vancouver finally brings the series to an open-world city. As Nick Ramos, players must escape a zombie-infested Los Perdidos with his friends.

The size and scope of "Dead Rising 3" is impressive, but it's the little touches that will impress players. The new combo weapons are even more outlandish this time around. Nick, a mechanic by trade, can even combine vehicles such as a bulldozer and a motorcycle.

The game uses Xbox One's Kinect and Smartglass features in interesting ways. With Kinect, Capcom Vancouver uses the sensor in short, clever bursts. Players can jerk their controller up to fend off zombies and shout at the undead through the sensor to lure them into traps.

The Smartglass feature is even better, allowing the game to turn a player's real-life smartphone into one they use in-game. Players will get calls from allies and can call in airstrikes. There's even a to-do list and map so players can navigate the city and not break the immersion. It's brilliant.

I did run into a few annoying glitches. The Kinect's microphone was too sensitive and unpaused a game and titles had trouble loading. The sharing also isn't as robust as it is on PlayStation 4. These are flaws Microsoft needs to address if the Xbox One is going to be the all-in-one system that players expect. The company has got the game part down; it just needs to catch up on everything else.